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French man demand 360,000 euros in damages for bored at work

That's what Parisian Frederic Desnard is doing. He has taken his former employer Interparfums to court because his job was too boring.

He is demanding 360,000 euros in damages for the distress.

Desnard, 44, worked for the company between 2010 and 2014. He claims his dull job, from which he was made laid off 18 months ago, caused him to suffer a “bore out” that led to serious emotional and health issues.

“He suffered from a critical depression and had a traffic accident linked to an epileptic seizure…he fell into a coma and was on a sick leave,” said Montasser Charni, Desnard's lawyer.

Desnard was paid 3,500 euros per month, for doing — he said — nothing.

His official job title was “general service director,” but he claims his superiors called him “the boy” and asked him to do their personal chores, including picking up kids from sports lessons.

He said that eventually there was so little for him to do that his bosses simply told him to go home and come back when they call him. The phone call never came, he claimed.

Desnard's lawyer said “bore-out” is a form of harassment.

“It can be defined as a moral exhaustion due to the total lack of caseload, (and) it comes with a feeling of shame of being paid to do nothing,” Charni said.

The company disputes Desnard's claims. “We refute all these charges,” said Cyril Levy-Pey, the company's communication director. He said Desnard was never called “the boy” or any other humiliating names.

“He wasn't so motivated after several years and despite our attempts to give him more missions, he was missing (for) more than six months…That's why he was dismissed in 2014,” he said.

The case is now being considered by a labor tribunal in Paris, with the decision expected in late July.